Senate Report: Russia Tried to Undermine US Voting Process in 2016

Russian cyber actors surveilled about 20 state election systems with the intent of undermining confidence in the U.S. voting process during the 2016 election, the Senate Intelligence Committee said in a report released Tuesday.

The committee determined that cyber actors affiliated with the Russian government extensively scanned state systems and in some cases were in a position to at least alter or delete voter registration data, but found no evidence that hackers had changed vote tallies or voter registration information.

“These activities began at least as early as 2014, continued through Election Day 2016, and included traditional information-gathering efforts, as well as operations likely aimed at preparing to discredit the integrity of the U.S. voting process and election results,” the committee said.

Russian-affiliated cyber actors scanned election systems in least 18 states for vulnerabilities and the committee had evidence at least three more may have been targeted in some capacity, according to the report.

Assessments by the committee as well as the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI were made based on self-reporting by the states and there is a possibility more states were targeted and went undetected.